Target Failure or Trial Failure? Re-Evaluating Why Pain Programs Fail

When pain programs fail, it can be difficult to determine whether the underlying biology was flawed or whether efficacy signals were obscured by trial design, patient heterogeneity or inappropriate endpoint selection. This workshop will explore how developers can learn from negative studies, identify responsive patient populations and generate more informative clinical development strategies for future pain therapeutics.

Key Topics Covered:

• How can developers distinguish true target failure from shortcomings in trial design, patient selection or endpoint strategy?
• What impact do patient heterogeneity, comorbidities, concomitant medications and disease duration have on detecting treatment benefit in pain studies?
• What lessons can be learned from programs that failed to meet endpoints, and how might alternative study designs or stratification approaches have altered outcomes?
• How can biomarkers, responder analyses and subgroup identification help uncover hidden efficacy signals and improve future development decisions?

Speakers: